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* Boeing off as FAA says 737 MAX to stay grounded in 2019
* Home Depot falls on weak 2020 sales growth forecast
* Fed decision awaited at 2 p.m. ET
* Dow off 0.02%, S&P 500 up 0.22%, Nasdaq up 0.24%
(Updates to open)
By Arjun Panchadar and Shreyashi Sanyal
Dec 11 (Reuters) - The blue-chip Dow Jones index came under
pressure from losses in Boeing and Home Depot on Wednesday,
while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq eked out gains as investors
awaited the Federal Reserve's policy statement for clues on the
strength of the economy.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep borrowing
costs steady in its latest policy announcement, due at 2:00 p.m.
ET (1900 GMT). Markets are also awaiting Fed Chair Jerome
Powell's outlook on the economy when he holds a news conference
later in the day.
"Obviously, the Fed isn't going to change rates and my sense
is that they are pretty happy where they are right now," said
Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg,
Florida.
Three rate cuts earlier this year, a slightly calmer tone
around U.S.-China trade recently and some relief over corporate
profits have helped push the S&P 500 .SPX up 25% so far in
2019.
However, sentiment has dulled recently after signals that
the U.S.-China trade deal could slide into next year. President
Donald Trump has just days to decide whether to impose levies on
nearly $160 billion in Chinese goods. "The cautionary thing is that we've seen these bits of news
and eventually had tariffs raised. So we are definitely not out
of the woods on trade policy," Brown said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 6.74
points, or 0.02%, at 27,874.98, hit by a 2.2% drop in shares of
Boeing Co BA.N after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
confirmed it would not allow the company's grounded 737 MAX to
resume flying before the end of this year. Also dragging the index lower was Home Depot Inc HD.N ,
which fell 1.2% as the home improvement chain forecast fiscal
2020 sales growth below Wall Street expectations. contrast, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 6.84 points, or
0.22%, at 3,139.36 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 20.47
points, or 0.24%, at 8,636.66.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O gained 2% on a Reuters report that the
electric carmaker planned to increase prices of imported Model 3
cars in China in January. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.90-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.32-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 15 new 52-week highs and no new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 46 new highs and 20 new lows.